The German court made its ruling today on the iPhone case between T-Mobile and …

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The results are in. T-Mobile Germany once again has exclusive rights to sell the iPhone within the country. The court made its ruling today, as promised, saying that T-Mobile could ask customers to take out two-year contracts with the purchase of the iPhone. The company may also sell the iPhone with a SIM-lock so that it can't be used on any other carrier, according to Reuters.

The temporary injunction issued against T-Mobile was only a couple of weeks ago, forcing the company to sell unlocked (and contract-free) iPhones for a short period of time. T-Mobile is no doubt happy about today's ruling, as it now doesn't have to worry about competitors offering rebates for the €999 unlocked iPhone and stealing customers.

So, back to the drawing board? You can still obtain an unlocked iPhone in Europe, but now you're limited to going through the French. Orange confirmed last week that it would sell iPhones with a variety of contract options, all of which can be unlocked for a €100 fee until six months is up. After that, the unlock code will be provided for free, as per French law.

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Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui